1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to ammunition that is fired from firearms. More particularly, the present invention relates to non-lethal ammunition that is fired from a firearm using compressed gas rather than gunpowder.
2. Prior Art Statement
In the prior art, there are many different types of guns that fire projectiles using the power of compressed gas rather than the power of an explosive, such as gunpowder. The most common examples of such prior art guns would be BB guns and paintball guns. Compressed gas is typically used in guns where it is desired to fire a projectile at subsonic speeds. Furthermore, compressed gas does not have the explosive power of gunpowder. Consequently, guns that used compressed air can be made flimsier and far less expensively than guns that fire traditional gunpowder powered bullets.
Guns that fire projectiles using compressed gas typically obtain the compressed gas from one of three sources. The first source is a manual pump. Manual pumps are used to compress air within the structure of the gun. It takes a significant amount of work to compress a small amount of air. Consequently, manual pumps are often used on BB guns, where only a small amount of compressed air is needed to fire a small, lightweight projectile.
The second type of compressed gas source is a powered compressor. Powered compressors can produce large volumes of compressed air in a relatively small time. As such, powered compressors are often used to power nail guns and other equipment that requires a large volume of compressed air to operate. However, powered compressors are very large and heavy. As such, a person cannot readily carry them from place to place. Powered compressors are therefore limited to applications where a gun is only going to be fired in a single location.
The third type of compressed gas source is a compressed gas canister. Canisters can be filled with compressed air, or other non-combustible gases, such as carbon dioxide or nitrogen. The compressed gas canisters can then be attached to the gun and used to power the gun.
Compressed gas canisters differ widely in size, shape, composition and weight. One of the smallest widely commercially available compressed gas canisters is the twenty-gram CO2 cartridge. A twenty-gram CO2 cartridge is a metal canister that is filled with twenty grams of liquid carbon dioxide. The twenty-gram CO2 cartridge has a neck that is sealed with a piercable membrane. When the piercable membrane is ruptured, the pressurized contents of the twenty-gram CO2 cartridge are released.
Since the twenty-gram CO2 cartridge is the smallest and cheapest readily available compressed gas source, it has been used to power a wide variety of guns. Many pellet guns, BB guns and paintball guns utilize twenty-gram CO2 cartridges. With such prior art guns, a twenty-gram CO2 cartridge provides enough compressed gas to fire between five and twenty five shots.
However, in the prior art, there are guns that utilize all the gas in a twenty-gram CO2 cartridge in a single shot. In one type of prior art gun, the gun merely pierces the twenty-gram CO2 cartridge and the cartridge itself becomes the projectile that is fired from the gun. Such prior art guns are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 5,652,405 to Rakov, entitled System For Shooting Using Compressed Air, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,909,000 to Rakov which is also entitled System For Shooting Using Compressed Air.
In other prior art guns, the twenty-gram CO2 cartridge is used to project a single secondary projectile from a gun. For instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,964,031 to Dotson, entitled Underwater Gun And Projectile For Spear Fishing, a twenty-gram CO2 cartridge is used to fire the harpoon of a spear gun.
Regardless of whether a gun fires multiple shots from a CO2 cartridge or a single shot, most all of the prior art guns that utilize CO2 cartridges are specialized guns that are designed to specifically receive the CO2 cartridge. Such prior art guns cannot be used to fire traditional gunpowder powered ammunition. Accordingly, if a policeman or a serviceman wants to use a compressed gas gun to fire smoke grenades or some other non-lethal projectile, they must carry a dedicated gun for that purpose. If they still desire to be armed with their traditional firearm, they must carry two guns.
A need therefore exits for a projectile system that enables a non-lethal compressed gas powered projectile to be fired from a traditional firearm, without requiring modifications to that traditional firearm. In this manner, a person can change between firing traditional gunpowder based ammunition to firing compressed air powered ammunition without having to change guns. This need is met by the present invention as described and claimed below.
The present invention is a projectile assembly that enables a compressed gas powered projectile to be fired from a traditional ammunition firearm. The projectile assembly includes a casing that is shaped like the casing of traditional ammunition. A projectile is set into the tip of the casing. Within the casing is located a compressed gas cartridge. The projectile assembly is loaded into the breech of a traditional firearm. Once the firearm is fired, the firing pin of the firearm strikes a piercing pin within the casing. The piercing pin, in turn, strikes and pierces the compressed gas cartridge. Once the compressed gas cartridge is ruptured, the pressure within the casing increases dramatically. The gas pressure displaces the projectile from the tip of the casing and propels the projectile down and out the barrel of the firearm. The remaining spent casing is ejected from the firearm in a traditional manner. The casing is designed so that a new compressed cartridge can be placed in the casing and the projectile replaced. As such, the same casing can be used numerous times and can be used to fire a variety of projectiles.